Inspiring the next generation

26 Apr 20132013-04-26T02:00:00+02:00

Young people had the chance to go behind-the-scenes and see what a career with Maritime can offer.

As part of the annual ‘Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day’, the new recruits experienced a variety of different areas including the manufacturing of micro-components for circuit boards, engineering, project management for ship building and human resources.

In Portsmouth the BAE Systems sites at Portsmouth Naval Base and Broad Oak Business Park hosted a special tour for students, followed by shadowing of their family members as they went about their day at work. They were also set a ‘spaghetti challenge’ by our apprentices where they were tasked to build a tower made with just spaghetti and marshmallows. For many of the young people taking part, this was their first time in a workplace.

On a wider scale 260 young people accompanied their parents to work at 22 BAE Systems sites across the UK. This formed part of a global initiative designed to help young people gain work experience and give them a taste of professional life.

Aimed primarily at 14 to 16 year olds, this is the eighth year running that BAE Systems hosted the day at its Portsmouth sites, which is designed to inform those involved about the possibilities of careers in science, technology and engineering.

Andrew Davies, Managing Director for Maritime said: “Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day’ is a fantastic way to inspire youngsters about the possibilities of a career in technology and engineering. Helping to ensure industry has a strong pipeline of future talent is a key priority for us, being able to show young people the exciting opportunities a career in the sector can offer is a big step in the right direction to inspire the future generation. The initiative gives young people the unique opportunity to see family members in action, and get a real idea of what we do here at Portsmouth Naval Base and Broad Oak. We hope that this will get them thinking about their own careers, and joining the company in the future.”

‘Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day’ is part of BAE Systems’ Skills 2020 programme which aims to ensure we have the right skills to operate successfully in 2020. In the UK the Company invests £83M per annum in schools liaison, employee development including apprentice and graduate training and partnerships with universities.